PRO-NATION

This is not about patriotism.  Perhaps quite the contrary

“Pronation” is defined on this computer as the outward turning of the foot so as to flatten the arch and direct the leg forces down on the inside of the foot, over the inside of the ankle bones.  For years I have had rather bad “pronation” of the right foot and ankle.  It is as if I am walking on the inside of my foot, and it results in “flat feet,” for which I was treated as a young child by an orthopædist in Richmond.  My right ankle is also distended and huge.  The “flat-feet” treatment was most annoying, since I had to wear shoes with “special” heels, custom- made at Miller & Rhoads department store.  I was not allowed to wear “Buster Brown” shoes, which I wanted so badly, since “Buster” and his dog would surely talk to me from the inside of the shoes like on TV!

The goddamned “flat feet,” however, did NOT exempt me from the undeclared Vietnam “War” draft!  Thankfully, I was spared certain death or possible quadraplegic paralysis in a rice paddy by the judicious revelation of the post-surgical permanently torn anterior cruciate ligament in my right knee!  I made SURE the docs at the induction station knew about THAT!  After all, I AM a scum-sucking COWARD!  I did NOT want to die in a rice paddy!  Not for Lyndon Johnson; not for Richard Nixon.  And DEFINITELY not to preserve the utterly corrupt South Vietnamese government!  Surprisingly, my liberties have mostly remained intact ever since the PREDICTABLE fall of that corrupt South Vietnamese government, right up until Donald Trump’s mostly corrupt judicial picks got railroaded through the Senate by Mitch McConnell!

But, I digress.  Sorry about that.

I have a theory, and I don’t know if the “statistics” will bear me out or not, but I am willing to venture that there are many more instances of “pronation” of the right foot and ankle than the left foot and ankle!  This occurred to me the other day as I was driving home from Richmond on the interstate highway.  I noticed that my right ankle and foot were stretched out toward the accelerator pedal, but rolled inward like a pronation!  Due to the lower seating positions and smaller confines of most cars these days, it is difficult to prevent the inevitable “pronation” of the right foot, even while using cruise control!

I have several older cars with more leg and foot room and higher seating positions, and they seem to distort the right-foot-and-ankle position less than newer cars.  If there is no cruise control, then the right toe must be held back, poised to modulate the fuel flow or apply the brake pedal as the foot must pivot on the heel, and the ankle inevitably turns inward.  The “shear” forces of the leg bones bear down on that distorted position and they seemingly try to “slide” past the ankle bones!

Now, I happen to know a thing or two about “shear forces.”  Years ago, I helped my ex-wife prepare for the architect’s licensing exam, and she had to master the general attributes of the various forces on structures.  She was not required to calculate the precise values (engineers do that), but she had to know enough to know when to invoke the assistance of an engineer while designing a structure.  “Shear” (sliding) forces were one of those forces she had to address, and as a former physics student, I had some knowledge in that area.  I am proud to say she passed the exam and is now both a licensed architect AND a “professional” (examined) interior designer.  

It seems to me that a “pronated” ankle is aggravated by a tendency of the leg bones to “shear” past the ankle bones, and that situation is aggravated by the distorted position of the right foot and ankle while driving in today’s more modern cars.  I’d be grateful if someone would comment and confirm or deny my suppositions.

THUGGERY BUGGERY

Today’s news is filled with all manner of threats from Vladimir Putin to cut off Russian gas flowing to European users whose countries are siding with Ukraine.  Apparently, he is seeking to punish those who openly oppose his warlike actions and ALLEGED wanton criminal conduct toward the Ukrainian civilians he apparently seeks to subjugate.  He has been accused in some quarters of using the gas flow to “blackmail” the open criticism into silence.

Now, this behavior seems typical of those who are so obsessed with dominating others that they fail to see the flaws in their own behavior.  I may be wrong in thinking, as I do, that a supplier of a commodity (like natural gas) ought to want to CULTIVATE markets of demand for the product, no?  I doubt very seriously that Putin can get Russians to extract nourishment directly from natural gas, and Russians probably get thirsty and hungry, JUST LIKE other people!  (Breathing the natural gas is not likely to be very satisfying!)  

So, it seems to me that the whole point of the thing is to SELL the natural gas to consumers who have the cash money needed by Russia (whether in rubles or in euros), then CONVERT that money to food, drink, arms, wages, etc. that will keep things going inside Russia!  Am I missing something here?  DEPRIVING the consumers of that gas is DEFINITELY NOT SELLING it to them, and I think it’s likely to stifle Putin’s cashflow!  I doubt it takes an “Einstein” to figure all that out!

AND, I daresay, it’s likely to really PISS THOSE CONSUMERS OFF! Does Putin think that, once all his “insinuations” end, it will be “business as usual” thereafter?  I could be wrong, but I would not bet the farm that all those people he seeks to inconvenience today are gonna welcome that revived gasflow with open arms a few months later!  He is driving a lot of Europeans to find other sources of gas, and I think he may as well kiss those customers good-bye!  FOREVER!

Ukraine has suffered horribly with Putin’s almost insane, miscalculated mis-behavior.  Putin has NEEDLESSLY (I think) created a lot of enemies AROUND THE WORLD who will not suddenly stop trying to figure out how to screw him hard, REGARDLESS of whatever happens hereafter!  And, the sad fact is that, hereafter, the Russian people will unfairly bear the brunt of a lot of the anti-Putin animus, while Putin could just skate away, unscathed!  Seems to me that the sooner the Russian people get rid of Putin, the better for them!  They are in serious danger of paying their own dear price despite their innocence!

And, regardless of wherever Putin goes, that animus he has created will follow, and he may as well wear a “KICK ME” sign on his back!  Like most dictators, Putin has already used up all of the good will that most any nation’s leader starts out with.  He is already in “deficit”!  Regardless of how much money he may ever accumulate, he will HAVE to be very careful and keep looking over his shoulder wherever he goes.  Despite appearances, Putin is NOT a vampire and will NOT live forever!  Putin is going to DIE one of these days!  What does that signify for whatever he thinks he’s accomplishing now?  Like all dictators, Putin is basically a COWARD, fearful of NOT being taken seriously, fearful of NOT being as big of a bad-ass as he thinks!  Putin is basically a bad joke, and methinks he has shot himself in the foot with his silly “deprivation” game with natural gas.  The “joke” is really on him!

Putin WILL inconvenience a lot of people.  He WILL scare a lot of people, and he WILL endanger and harm and kill a lot of people!  But, he is NOT going to succeed at all of that forever.  As rotten as Putin is, only herpes lasts forever.  And, one of these days, he will wish DESPERATELY he had access to the DEMAND market for natural gas that he will have so successfully alienated, but I predict he will thereafter succeed ONLY in cutting off his nose to spite his pouty face.

Joe Biden needs to point these things out.

4/28/22

LIKE HOT CROSS BUNS!

 

… Jesus is risen!

I’ve been sitting here at my computer all morning, since about 7:30, waiting for the Easter Bunny to bring me my candy!  I saw him out in the yard, trying to “hump” one of the chickens!  I yelled at him, demanding to know what in the Hell he thought he was doing!  He hollered back that he was running low on Easter Eggs and needed more, very quickly!

And none of that detestable vinegar smell!

It’s so depressing.  I have finished off a pot of coffee, some sausage, a piece of bread, etc. and STILL no candy!  No one to dress up for, no one to wish me a “Happy Easter,” no phone calls, no visits, no cards nor letters.  No “pitter-patter of little feet” (well, that’s my own fault!)  Easter is just like any other day, now.

And, WHY did they call it “GOOD” Friday?  It surely was not “good” for Jesus!  I asked that question in Presbyterian Sunday School when I was very young, and I was told that it was “good” because Jesus died a horrible, torturous death for the sins of ALL of us!  So, what I needed to do, obviously, was consider the matter from a very SELFISH point of view!  Sure, it may have been a bit uncomfortable for Jesus, but it was REALLY COOL for the rest of us!  Forever!

Game/set/match.

PLUS, back then we got out of PUBLIC school for four days, from “Good” Friday through “Easter Monday”!  Easter Monday?  That surely was not in the Bible!  Oh, well, no big deal!  A day off from school was “good,” no matter the reason or the season!  “Spring Break” did not start until college.  Imagine!  Jesus was replaced by a whole week for us to rush down to Florida, get just as drunk as possible, think (only) about nothing but S-E-X for a week, then rush back home in time to sober up for exams!  We established the outermost limits of the human body just as soon as Jesus was purged from the school calendars, thanks to that godless harridan, Madelyn Murray O’Hair!  She WOULD have been proud, though!

And, crucifixion is REALLY bad!  I have done some research on it, and it was not “fun”!  It was widely used in a lot of cultures in pre-medieval times.  It was INTENTIONALLY tortuous, done publicly to suppress the likelihood of “uppity” behavior, to keep things “orderly” for the sovereign in charge.  Our current fondness for the phrase “law and order” does not invoke the “law” of protected rights, but instead stresses the “order” imposed by bad-ass “law”-men with badges and guns and billy clubs!  It was thus back then, when people got nailed up and were allowed to die a slow and very painful death by crucifixion!

Consider the actual dying process: one is nailed up on a wooden “trellis” with big spikes, likely driven through the wrists and ankles lest they tear loose, trying to hold the weight of the entire body.  There is no way the victim can support his/her weight except on said spikes.  There is no platform on which to stand.  The entire body weight is hanging by the four spikes, sagging forward toward the ground, since the body’s skeletal structure cannot support the weight.  This means that all of the internal viscera inside the body cavity are hanging down as well, pulling on the diaphragm and lungs, which are slowly filling with fluid and will allow the victim to ultimately “drown” to death from his own fluid inside the lungs.

MEANWHILE, being publicly scourged, the victim may be injured by bystanders or passers-by with sharp objects or even thrown missiles, and at least spat upon, or targeted with feces or other available fluids, including his or her own, lying on the ground.  The victim will also surely be subjected to further tortures inflicted by attending officials, soldiers, police, etc.  It takes a L-O-N-G time to die in such fashion, and the pain and shame and duration are all intentional!

For OUR alleged sins!

JUST SO YOU KNOW: the “seven deadly sins” are:

(a) pride (b) greed (c) wrath (d) envy (e) lust (f) gluttony (g) sloth.  They are also called the “cardinal” sins.  Guilty as charged!  I don’t know who made up this list, but I think it’s a shame somebody was duped into dying for other people’s lust, gluttony, pride, etc.  I can barely get out of the bed each morning without violating three or four of these!  Before I can even brush my teeth!  I mean, what if I stub my toe?  Does somebody have to die because I got so “wrathful” about THAT?  As for “sloth,” how many of us have lingered in the bed, not wanting to get up, how many times a WEEK?  That’s a lot of guilt and a lot of death!  Poor, poor Jesus!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins

Lust was originally paired with fornication, back in the 4th Century, CE when this nonsense was first dreamed up.  Personally, I know I have done a LOT more lusting than fornicating!  Usually, the fornicating must be preceded by the lusting!  How many of us get to roam around fornicating our heads off, then LATER get to just think (or lust) about it?  The Catholic Church gets to take credit for translating a lot of these “sins” into English, so we mere Anglo-Saxons might understand the gravity of our loutish behaviors.  I note from the info in Wikipedia that the notion of “just war” is tied up with the alternative, suggested “seven virtues.”  In other words, as the old bumpersticker used to declare: “Kill a Commie For Christ!”  I guess it’s not “murder” if the dead guy was wrong in his fundamental economic and political philosophy!

Well, all this has made me very thirsty, so I need to go look in the ‘fridge and see if there might be a beer there.  I haven’t had any lately, so perhaps Jesus won’t have to die again just because I haven’t whistled down a whole six-pack recently!

(4/17/22)

NOW

 CONSIDER:

An “event” (one galaxy crashing into another) is described as 680 MILLION light-years away—THEORETICALLY, it "happened” 680 million years ago, back way before the dinosaurs roamed Earth, so the light from that explosive event is arriving at the Hubble Telescope only now.  

A “light-year” is the distance a beam of light will “travel” in one year, which is about 5.8 TRILLION miles!  A “trillion” is 12 zeroes—a million MILLION!  That is about 5,800,000,000,000 miles x 680,000,000 away!

Therefore, it is about 3,944,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles away—about 3.944 sextillion miles!  (I hope I got my zeroes right!)  That is a number I really can’t wrap my brain around!

But also, consider this: “now” (time) is ALWAYS defined by the speed of light, since nothing can be faster (according to Einstein’s "Theory of Special Relativity"), so I might assert that “now” is, arguably, whenever it is seen or detected, WHEREVER, not when it may have originally occurred!  Seen or detected by whomever or whatever!  I will contend that “time” itself is, therefore, "telescoped” by the speed of light.  

Does a tree falling in a forest where there’s nothing (no human or animal) to hear it make a sound?  Does “light” become "real” unless/until there is something to detect it?

Who in the Hell knows?

Now, time for some true confession!

I pulled that “theory” about the speed of light being “now” COMPLETELY out of my ass!  (I gotta say it feels much better now!)  Personally, I have NO WAY to do the mathematics necessary to even APPROACH “proof” of that assertion, nor have I read it asserted anywhere else.  I might even make a joke about no one being able to prove me WRONG, which is, of course, logically IMPOSSIBLE!  No one can “prove” a negative!  That is why the burden of “proof” is almost ALWAYS on the one asserting the affirmative of something!  Moi!

I’ve almost finished reading a really good book about the history of physics by Leon Lederman and Dick Teresi, called The God Particle—If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

At the time he wrote the book, Lederman was directing the construction of a huge Super-Collider project in Waxahachie, Texas with a subterranean tunnel for the collider about 23 miles in circumference!  It would have been the largest, most powerful particle accelerator ever built, but it got axed by Congress.  More about that later.

In his book, there is a really great summary about those (of us) who “theorize” about quantum particle physics and usually wind up "blowing smoke.”  About halfway through the book there is “Interlude B,” too long to quote here.  But Lederman is appropriately critical of people like me who think of something off the wall then want to “shock” the stodgy Establishment types with our brilliance!  Because so many really bizarre and interesting developments have occurred at the quantum level (Lederman describes it as “spooky”), we armchair physicists have decided to go to the head of the class with our fabulous “theories” intended to push aside that stodgy Establishment and be appreciated for our obvious brilliance!

But there is no room for us “gunslingers” who don’t "have the goods,” as Lederman says.  Physics has built on the works of others for centuries.  Lederman and Teresi trace the development from Archimedes, the Greek philosopher, to Galileo, to Isaac Newton, to James Clerk Maxwell, to Albert Einstein, to all of the quantum physicists who have pushed knowledge of atomic structure further and further along.  None of them has been “canceled”; all have been enhanced, and all have served to enable the enhancements.

I think this book, published back in 1993, is one of the easiest and best I have ever read about physics, and I urge everyone to read it.

BTW: the “God Particle” was a term coined (almost as a joke) by Lederman with reference to the elusive Higgs boson, which is a quantum (sub-atomic) particle believed to be associated with how Mass generates Gravity, and many, many other functions.  In seeking to mathematically “unify” the four fundamental forces, Gravity is the only one that has not been corralled, the others being Electromagnetism, the “Strong" Nuclear Force (that keeps protons and neutrons clinging together inside atomic nuclei) and, finally, the “Weak” Nuclear Force that induces radioactive decay.  The extremely brief presence of the Higgs boson was likely confirmed in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, in Switzerland.  Peter Higgs, the eponym for the particle, shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics for his work thereon, going back to 1964.

If you would like to feel what it’s like when your head explodes, read the entry in Wikipedia about the Higgs boson:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson

I think that “Interlude B” is relevant to all the recent whooping and hollering about COVID masks, vaccines and other COVID “cures.”  MOST of the people (like Donald Trump and his ilk) doing the whining HAVE NO CLUE about the way viruses work and how they spread.  They are determined to push aside the “obviously corrupt” Establishment types who OBVIOUSLY don’t want Ordinary People to learn how corrupt and bought off are the government agencies and personnel, pushing their favored “remedies” that serve only their venal purposes or enhance their bureaucratic power.  Most people have no understanding of just how rigorous the testing protocols are and the excruciating scientific detail that must be employed and mastered.  And, the development of the rigorous treatment protocols are ongoing and WORLD-WIDE.  Contrary to those who see the controlling hand of a few select US bureaucrats over all, there are thousands of scientists independently working on these issues.  To be sure, mistakes and errors ARE being made, but the “system” usually works in amazing ways to catch and/or correct those mistakes.

And considering how those casting doubt on the “system” frequently sport Ph.D.’s and occasionally even a Nobel, Lederman (also a Nobel physics laureate) and Teresi point out in “Interlude B” that "a Ph.D. is even less a guarantee of ‘truth’ than a Nobel Prize”!

As I indicated above, back in 1993 the House of Representatives killed Lederman's Super-Collider project in Texas due to construction-cost overruns and some seriously questionable expenses.  The GAO had predicted a final cost of at least $8.4 Billion; maybe as high as $12 Billion, way over budget.  The end of the Cold War also contributed to its demise.  It would have been 3 times more powerful than the Hadron Collider at CERN.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider

As my late friend Ernie Crane used to say, “Happy Motoring!"

____________________________

 

4/2/22

WHY?

I recently watched a program on PBS “World Channel" about "the Meaning of it all”—those who ask “why” is there “something" out there vs. “nothing" out there.  The discussion featured two particle physicists talking with each other.

Expecting a substantive reply presumes the existence of a sentient (self-aware) creative force (“God”?) that possesses a reason for doing it a certain way.  “Because” is the expected answer.

“Because” further implies a detailed explanation for thus acting.  So far as I know, there is no “scientific” way to provide such an answer.  We may know HOW it wound up the way it is,  but not WHY.  Each of us is on his/her own.

Interestingly, this comes up often in the context of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), the quest to have computers mimic human thought.  I am personally skeptical and have been so at least since the early 1970s.  Sir Roger Penrose, the Oxford mathematician who published The Emperor’s New Mind about AI in the late 1980s and who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021, is also skeptical.  I struggled to read his book and did not understand much of it, but I got some “gist” about his thoughts on AI. 

In the early 1970s, while in law school, I was consuming rather large quantities of locally-grown marijuana ("Rockbridge Red”) and listening to “Firesign Theatre” (two of whom are now dead) comedy records.  Their album, I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus, features a trip to the “future” for a bus-load of Bozo clowns, all honking their “Clarabelle” (mixed-metaphor) horns every time the word “Bozo” is sounded.  (Yes, I know it’s puerile.  So what?  It was very funny at the time!)  One of their number, named “Clem,” is invited to an audience with "The President" who, by that time in the future, has evolved to be a computer with a canned voice that sounded strangely like Richard Nixon (also very funny)!  "The President” insists that "Clem” ask him any question; any question at all, and he (the President) will answer it!  So Clem asks, “Why does the porridge bird lay its egg in the air?”  And the computerized President has a meltdown!  BECAUSE (as a really stoned classmate immediately pointed out to me) a computer CANNOT answer a “why” question!  "The President” was completely done for.  As some character on the record yelled, “You broke the President, Man!” we howled with laughter.

I had been screwing around with computers since the mid-1960s and had NEVER thought of that before!  Roger Penrose never pointed that out, either, but I think it is instructive.  BECAUSE “why/because” can only be fathomed by a sentient intelligence that does NOT rely on some mathematical calculation to provide the answer.  In fact, I doubt mathematics (the functional guts of all computer programming) will ever provide such an answer.  Fashioning a motive, a “reason,” is a purely human act (I suspect).  I doubt that our dogs or cats worry about “why/because.”  I doubt that chimps, monkeys, whales, sharks, or alligators worry about it.  My own belief is that the Universe is eternal and infinite, and it has ALWAYS been the way it is, following AND ILLUMINATING the eternally established physical laws and requiring no one's initiating purpose or “reason.”  I could be wrong, of course.

But, I doubt it.  I think it is utterly pointless, even conceited, to dither over why “something” is “out there.”  Most likely, it just “IS."

See you on the fun-way!

12/17/21

SIMPLE CITIZENSHIP

There are a few things that EVERY American ought to know, regardless of educational background.  I herewith propose a set of simple questions.  WARNING: you might consider SOME of these questions to be “tricks”!  None intended.  Quantities (miles, gallons, pounds, Fahrenheit degrees) are approximate.  NO PARTIAL CREDIT.

1—What are the 3 primary colors and 3 secondary colors in the rainbow, being the visible light spectrum?  Name all of them.

2—What are the 4 seasons of the year?

3—How many US senators does your state have?

4—What town or city is the capital of your state?

5—How many ounces to a pound?

6—How many ounces to a pint?

7—How many pints are in a gallon?

8—Name the three physical states (solid, liquid, gas) of water?

9—Consider the “boiling point” (Fahrenheit temperature) of water.  Is it:

a. 112 degrees

b. 212 degrees

c. 312 degrees

d. 412 degrees

10—Consider the “freezing point” (Fahrenheit temperature) of water at sea level.  Is it:

a. 42 degrees

b. 37 degrees

c. 32 degrees

d. 27 degrees

e. 22 degrees

11—Consider the linear speed of the Earth’s rotation at the Equator.  Is it:

a. 240 miles per hour

b. 440 miles per hour

c. 840 miles per hour

d. 1,040 miles per hour

e. 1,240 miles per hour

12—Consider the approximate distance from the Earth to the Moon.  Is it:

a. 5,000 miles

b. 50,000 miles

c. 150,000 miles

d. 250,000 miles

e. 350,000 miles

13—Name the two major political parties.

14—When you breathe normally, do you breathe in more oxygen than anything else?

15—Who is the current President of the United States?

16—What political party does the current President belong to?

17—What is the circumference of the Earth in miles?

18—How many chambers (houses) are there in the US Congress?

19—How many days in a “Leap Year”?

20—Is a “light-year” a measure of time or distance?

(Give the speed of light for a “free” question.)

NOTE: f you can’t score at least 80%, then you should just go home and slit your wrists and bleed to death!  YOU ARE JUST TOO STUPID TO TAKE UP LIVING SPACE AND EXHALE INTO MY AIR SUPPLY!  I am worried it might be CONTAGIOUS!